More in Movies »

Comedy Central Sews Up Star For Four Years

By BILL CARTER

Published: March 19, 2004

Comedy Central made certain yesterday that it would have its signature star, Jon Stewart of ''The Daily Show,'' for at least another four-year election cycle, completing a deal that will extend his contract with the cable channel through 2008.

Mr. Stewart, 41, has become one of the stars of late-night television in the last year, winning two Emmy Awards and landing on national magazine covers for his acerbic presentation of a mock nightly newscast. He recommitted despite rumblings that he would be highly sought after by the broadcast networks for a late-night talk show.

Mr. Stewart declined to comment and the channel's executives did not disclose the terms of the deal. But James Dixon, Mr. Stewart's agent, said that Comedy Central was ''very aggressive in going after him,'' making an offer comparable to the salaries of some network late-night stars.

Larry Divney, the president of Comedy Central, emphasized that the deal means ''Jon cannot say yes to a broadcast network'' for at least another four years.

Mr. Divney, who will leave as the channel's chief executive in June, added that re-signing Mr. Stewart was ''an 11 on a scale of 10'' in terms of importance to Comedy Central. ''Jon is so integral to what out view of the channel is,'' he said.

Mr. Stewart was widely mentioned for two network late-night jobs in recent years. He was all but signed to get the 12:05 a.m. show created by ABC a little over a year ago, only to have network executives reconsider and give the spot to Jimmy Kimmel.

That came months after ABC had made a run at CBS's David Letterman, offering to displace its news program ''Nightline'' in the process. At that time CBS said it would pursue Mr. Stewart for its 11:35 p.m. show if Mr. Letterman decided to leave.

Since then Mr. Stewart's show has reached record viewership numbers. He is now seen by over a million viewers a night, according to the channel's spokesman, Tony Fox. (That is still considerably below the 4 million to 6 million who watch Jay Leno and David Letterman, and the almost 3 million who tune into Conan O'Brien at 12:35 on NBC.) And Mr. Stewart has become among the most critically praised of the late-night hosts, particularly for his coverage of the presidential campaign, under the title ''Indecision 2004.''